No More
by Cekeater
Summary: Andros doesn't want love. Not from anyone. Not anymore... First fanfic. please don't hate me
1. Chapter 1

"SPIRAL SABER!"

A blade materialized out of nowhere and landed in Andros's hand. He quickly used it to slash Darkonda, but somehow, Darkonda caught his sword with his bare hands!

"Poor red ranger! Armed or unarmed, you are no match for me!"

"We'll see about that," is what Andros wanted to say, but Darkonda kicked him in the chest and Andros flew backward into a wall.

"Andros," Carlos called, "Are you okay? Here, let me help..."

"NO! I can do this by myself!

"Andros, please don't do this," Ashley cried, "we're a team!"

"No this is my fight! Leave me alone and get out of my way!"

Andros was about to charge at Darkonda again, but TJ grabbed his arm and turned him

"Sorry about this, " TJ said as he knocked Andros out by squeezing a pressure point on his neck.

"Deca teleport 5 to the megaship"

The rangers got back to the megaship and shortly after they arrived, Andros woke up.

"What the hell was that for!" Andros screamed suddenly remembering what had just happened.

"Andros, you were out of control. We had to do something!" said TJ

"Yeah man you could've killed yourself," Carlos exclaimed, "If your going to be our leader, you'd better start acting like one!"

Knowing he wouldn't win the argument, Andros stalked back to his room

How could he lead his team if no one even trusted him.

_That's what you wanted remember?_

'That's not true! I tried not to get close to them! Everyone else close to me has died already,' Andros said to whatever that voice inside his head was.

_Yes but how can you expect them to trust you when you lock them out?_

"I.. I ... I don't expect them to trust me," Andros said quietly, "I don't"

A tear slid down his cheek as he pulled his knees to his chest and wrapped his arms around them.

Carlos's last words still hurt him. None of them even knew what had happened to his last team and he didn't plan on telling them. Kari... dead. Sa-han and Kareem... dead. Zhane was still alive. Barely. But it wouldn't be long before he was dead and Andros had almost given up hope. And how could he forget Natla. Her death was the worst. especially to Andros. She was special to him. He'll never forget her and he'll never forget who killed her.

_Andros was in a cave chained up to a wall and darkonda was pacing in front of him. Menacingly. On the floor was the only girl he had ever loved. And she had loved him back. She was on all fours with her wrists and ankles chained to the floor. She was crying. _

_"We meet again red ranger," Darkonda laughed, " But this time you brought a friend. The yellow ranger. My, my, my... she is very beautiful."_

_"Andros. Help... m...me." Natla cried_

_"Silence! You shall not speak!" Darkonda yelled as he pulled up Natla's shirt and ferociously whipped her back._

_"NO!" Andros yelled, "DON'T TOUCH HER!"_

_"Hmmmmmmm interesting," Darkonda mocked as he finished his beating, "It seems the red ranger has a soft spot for the yellow ranger. Maybe I should fix that..."_

_"No! Please don't ! please. I'm begging. It's me you want! Kill me instead!"_

_"My dear boy," Darkonda's lips stretched into a devious smile, "There are worse things you can do to a man then kill him. You can hurt him. Twist him. Until he doesn't want to live any longer. And i intend to do just that!"_

_Darkonda walked over to Natla and drew a sword. Andros didn't know what to do he was scared. Lost. Darkonda had won. Darkonda raised his sword above Natla's head and said, "However, I will show you mercy... "_

_Then he smiled and said, "Once this is over I'll let you beg for me to kill you"_

_With that, he swung his sword down and-_

There was a knock on his door. Andros stirred out of bed.

"Hells bells, who could that be."


	2. Chapter 2

"Who is it?" Andros yelled trying to sound like he was angry, but he was just trying to hide his sadness

"It's me, Ashley, can I come in?"

Andros thought about that. He could use someone to talk to and Ashley was a decent person. However, he knew what he had said. He wasn't going to get close to anyone.

"No, just go away. I don't want to talk to anyone."

"Alright," Ashley said sadly, "I think talking would make you feel better, but I don't want to nag you. I just want to be your friend. I want to help you. If you change your mind my room's right next to yours.

It took several seconds for Andros to respond.

"Thanks, but no thanks," he finally said. That hurt Ashley. But she still waited in front of Andros's door for at least five minutes before she turned around. He wasn't going to talk.

"Deca, is Ashley still in her room?"

"Affirmative," said a calm voice," and I find it wise you go talk to her. She means you no harm."

"You know what happened to the last yellow ranger"

"Indeed I do, but it is not wise for you to dwell too much on the past."

"How can I not when the past is all I have?"

"Which is precisely why you need Ashley, so you can have more than a past. You can have a future."

"I'm going to bed," Andros declared, tired of constantly arguing, "wake me up in thirty minutes."

Deca said nothing to that.

"UGH!" Ashley said as she collapsed onto her bed, "Why does he hate me so much!"

Ashley just lay down in bed; one or two tears sliding down her face.

_KNOCK KNOCK_

Ashley bolted upright and tried hiding her tears while she asked, " Who is it?"

"It's Cassie."

Heartbroken that it wasn't Andros changing his mind she sighed, "Come in."

"Hey Ash, I was just wond- " she cut of mid-sentence and noticed Ashley's face, "Ash, what's wrong?"

"Nothing's wrong. I'm just, you know... relaxing."

"Ash your a terrible liar," Cassie laughed, "seriously, what's the matter?"

"It's just, I don't know, why is Andros so distant. He never wants to talk to anyone and when someone talks to him, he quickly ends the conversation!" Ashley started raising her voice, "And today, what was that all about! I mean is he in it for the glory or something! We're a team! I don't need this 'I work alone' crap!"

" I know Ash, but we barely know him. We've been on this ship for what, a couple months? And Andros has given us food, shelter, and new powers! I'm not saying your being selfish because your definitely not, but what I am saying is that he opened his arms to strangers and we've gotta remember that."

" I know, I know. Your right. Thanks Cass."

Cassie was thinking about teasing Ashley about liking Andros to see if her suspicions were correct, but she didn't. She knew Ashley didn't need that right now. Right now, Ashley needed a friend

"Come on Ash, how bout we go down to Angel grove. We could go shopping!!" Casie said teasingly.

Ashley laughed.

"Yeah, let's go."

Andros came out of his room and went to the main bridge.

"Deca tell everyone to meet me at the main bridge. Tell them I want to talk to them."

Minutes later, TJ arrived shortly before Carlos.

"What's up?"

Andros was about to answer that when Cassie and Ashley appeared out of nowhere right in front of them. They we're laughing and carrying at least 5 brightly colored bags each.

" And then... and then," Cassie was saying through laughs. " SHE LAID DOWN ON THE RABBIT!!"

"HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA," screamed both Ashley and Cassie.

"Glad to see you could join us..." Andros said

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry," Ashley said as she and Cassie started calming down.

"Now," Andors said," I've called you all here because, well, to put it mildly, our last battle wasn't too good. I thought we could all use a little team training on the Simudeck. I'll make us run some easy stuff to warm us up and then we'll try different situations, tactics, strategies, and oh yeah, a couple new powers."

Carlos's eyes gleamed at the last part

"Alright, good idea. Let's get started." said TJ.

" Wait," Andros said, " I owe you guys an apology. I shouldn't have acted they way I did back there. From now on I'll try to be a little bit more... well, let's just say I'll try to stop being stupid."

"Apology accepted, man" TJ said as he stuck out his hand. Andros was still new to this "shake" thing, but he quickly grabbed his hand and shook it firmly.

Cassie snorted

" Hey no worries, man," she said as she punched him lightly on the arm, "You should've seen Teej when he was in charge."

Carlos started laughing out loud at that.

"Hey," Ashley said, " I wouldn't be laughing. Remember when we were turbo rangers and you went up to Divatox an-"

"We don't need to relive that moment thank you very much," Carlos said, quickly interrupting.

Everyone was laughing. Everyone except Andors. He gave a kind of sad smile. He wished he knew what it was like to still have friends. He started staring away at nothing as his mind traveled.

"Hey," Ashley called," You coming?"

Andros just looked back at her with an emotionless face.

Ashley laughed.

" Come on," she said grabbing his hand and pulling him with her. Andros just reluctantly followed her, still holding her hand.

"Man, Carlos, you should've seen the look on your face!" said TJ through laughs

"What is this, pick on Carlos day!"

"Let's see, the twenty-third... hmmm, yep, today is definitely pick on Carlos day."

"Ha... freakin...ha."

Everyone was laughing as they walked away from the simudeck. Andros just looked down and pressed buttons to turn off the simudeck system. He could always ask Deca to turn it off, but he'd rather be away from everyone else. He knew that he would never be as close to them as they are to each other; even if he wanted to. But he did want to tell them to treasure this moment. To hold on to each other and to be thankful for what they have been given. But, he didn't. He wasn't sure what made him not. Probably just not wanting to talk to them, but the more he hid, the more they kept coming towards him.

"Hey are you coming?" Ashley asked

"No," Andros replied " I'm going to run a couple more tests."

"Need me to help? You know, spar or something?"

"No I'll be fine."

"Oh. Well, okay then."

She walked out of the room,

"Ok Deca level 9 and lets have uhhh about 87 quantons this time."

"Affirmative."

The whole room suddenly changed to just a flat surface that was seemly located in the middle of nowhere. Ecliptor was there and so were the quantons. It only took 15 minutes until Andros was on all fours with Ecliptor's sword nicely placed on his neck.

"En... end simu... " Andros tried to mumble.

He blacked out and all he heard were feet rushing to him picking him up. And then he saw her. He saw Natla. But how...


	3. Chapter 3

Andros awoke to a blurry vision of bright lights. He heard some noises. Someone was speaking. Then he saw a face. He could only see a very vague silhouette, but it was there. He could hear clearly faster than he could see, but it was still hard to make out.

"There was no point in telling him he was pushing too hard. It would have only made him choose a harder simulation." said a calm, cool voice.

"I don't care!" came a rather loud and frustrated voice, "Andros could've died just now and you didn't even care to stop him!

"N...Na...Natla?" Andros said weakly.

"Not now Andros!" yelled Ashley quickly turning to him then to Deca and back,"Wait Andros?"

"Natla?"

"No, it's me Ashley. who's Natla?"

"Natla..." Andros moaned. He started to whimper and ashley leaned down and held him. She was surprised when he didn't pull back or scream. He just cried quietly.

Ashley was just starting to get comfortable until Deca interrupted their "moment" (Ashley considered it a moment even though Andros was halfway unconscious).

"Andros, I have to go, Ecliptor is attacking Earth. I'll be back as soon as possible!"

Andros didn't make any sign of response. He just kept crying. Ashley rushed out swearing under her breath about how much she hated Deca right now.

  The rangers got back in one piece. Ecliptor in the end had just given up and returned to the Dar Fortress. When they got back to the megaship, they didn't see any sign of Andros.

"Deca, where's Andros?" asked T.J.

"Andros left to his room and he is currently there."

The rangers all headed to Andros's room.

"Hey Andros, you in there?" said T.J.

"Yeah, give me a second," Andros responded.

Moments later Andros opened the door and stepped outside to show a normal looking Andros in his regular space uniform.

"Are you ok?"

"Yeah I'm fine. You guys seemed to handle yourselves pretty damn well"

"Only because of your training," said Cassie playfully.

Andors smiled. The smile was fake, but the rangers didn't mind.

"Well it's getting pretty late, you guys should get some sleep. I already slept enough today, I'll be on the maindeck if anyone needs me."

"Oh man, sleep sounds really good right now." Carlos said through a yawn.

With that, everyone started slowly going to their rooms. Andros, however, like he said he would, walked to the maindeck. Ashley looked after him, biting her lip. she shook her head and went to her room.

  Andros walked to the maindeck and sat down in one of those "spiny chairs". At least that's what Zhane used to call them... His mind trailed off and after a couple of minutes he got up and walked to a room he knew to well. He arrived to see what was once the silver ranger. But rather, a nearly dead, cryogenically frozen silver ranger.

"Zhane wouldn't even know how to spell cryogenically," Andros dryly chuckled to himself.

He rubbed the cold glass that was between him and Zhane so he could see more clearly.

"You would've known what to do with these new rangers. I don't think I'll ever be able to be close to them. Be close to anyone at all, " Andros sighed "You would've been able to cheer me up through this. Hell, we'd probably be the best of friends with the rangers if you were here. I miss you Zhane..."

  Ashley couldn't sleep at all. She just kept thinking of Andros. She needed to get out of her room. She got up and was about to change but decided against it. Pajamas are way too comfortable. She started walking down to the kitchen area to get herself some hot chocolate. As she walked she playfully thought if Andros had ever tried hot chocolate and if he'd spit it up the moment he took a sip. A large smile appeared and she kept walking.

 Andros started walking towards the dining room area where the lockers and the jump-tubes were. He needed to go out and think. He got to the red jump-tube and nearly fell in when he heard a soft voice.

"Hey there," said Ashley smirking a little bit.

"Ashley? What are you doing here?"

"Drinking some hot coco," Ashley smiled," you want some?"

"No thanks, maybe some other time. I've got to clear my head."

"Why is there something wrong?"

"No, I just want to get out a little."

"Oh, because i don't know..." Ashley sighed,"today when you woke up, you called me Natla. Who is sh-"

"Don't you ever speak of her again! " Andros grabbed her arm and forced her against a wall, " Understand? Never!"

"I'm sorry Andros, I... I... I'm sorry." Ashley started sobbing.

Andros sighed and walked away to the jump-tube, "I'll see you later."

 Ashley threw away her hot chocolate and walked back to her room. Her eyes were filed with tears and on the way, she found a room with a sofa and a view of the night sky. The observatory she figured. She sat on the sofa and hugged a pillow. It was going to be a long night...

Andros, in his morphed form, rode on his red galaxy glider through space. He didn't stray too far from the megaship and he somewhat circled around it. He needed to clear his head and the last time he "cleared his head" with the simudeck, he nearly killed himself. So he decided to just fly in the darkness of space.

_"Why did they have to die... Natla, his team, Zhane," _Andros thought,_ "Zhane... his energy levels are really low. I don't think he's going to make it... Zhane's the only friend I have left. These new rangers aren't bad, but they're not my friends. Ashley says she wants to be my friend. I couldn't be her friend. I couldn't be any of their friends. It's for their own good..."_

 Andros rode back to the ship and entered the hanger bay. He used the megalift and walked toward his room. He walked to his room, but on his way he heard something. Was it a _whimpering _noise? Yes, it was definitely someone crying. He listened for the sound and found himself in front of the observatory. He opened the door a creak and saw ashley huddled up in a ball, crying herself to sleep. Wait, was she asleep AND crying. Is that possible? Andros sighed and went to a small cabinet and pulled out a blanket. He gently put the blanket over Ashley. She stirred a little, but she didn't wake up. Andros kneeled down and wiped the tears on her face.

"Good night Ashley." Andros whispered. And he quietly left.

 The next morning, Andros woke up and showered. Then he went to the dining room and found T.J. already in there eating his breakfast.

"Hey Andros! How are you?" said T.J. with a big smile.

"Your awfully energetic in the morning."

T.J. laughed, "Early to bed, early to rise; makes a man healthy, wealthy and wise."

Andros thought about that for a little bit, "Oh, ok."

T.J. laughed some more, "Come on Andros, loosen up a little bit! Your like a big knot!"

"Ask me again later in the day."

T.J. laughed again and said nothing. Andros didn't mean it as a joke but he also didn't want T.J. to ask him to "loosen up" again, so he didn't care too much.

_"Man I bet that guy smiles in his sleep," _Andros thought.

Andros got his food and was about to sit down when suddenly, Cassie ran into the room right before Carlos.

"Ha! Beat you again. I'll have three waffles and some bacon. Oh and could you make the coffee a little stronger this time?" Cassie said teasingly to Carlos.

"You know one of these days your going to regret dong this."

"Whatever, now hurry up!"

" I get no respect..." Carlos mumbled on and on to himself while getting Cassie her food.

"Hey do you guys know where Ashley is?"

T.J. shrugged his shoulders and was about to say something, but he was interrupted by another voice.

"She's probably still in the observatory." Andros said.

"Uh, ok. Thanks, I'll go check up on her..." Cassie said and she walked out of the room.

"How did you know where Ashley was?" Carlos asked very suspiciously.

" I, err, saw her walk in there last night when i was checking the engines." Andros lied.

"Oh, ok" Carlos said completely missing the white lie. Andros was really glad that they didn't realize that the observatory is nowhere near the engine room. They all ended up eating their food in silence.

 "Hey, Ash. Wake up."

"Mmmm, what is it?" replied a sleepy Ashley.

"Everybody's eating breakfast, you should probably head over there pretty soon."

"Thanks Cass," Ashley sat up and rubbed her eyes, " I'll prob- what is this doing here? This wasn't here when I was sleeping!"

Ashley was pointing at the blanket and Cassie got up and started walking towards the door.

"Somebody must have put it there," said Cassie as she leaned against the door. She smirked and said," Funny thing is, the only person who knew where you were was Andros."

She walked out of the room with a grin on her face, but her grin was nowhere as big as Ashley's.


	4. Chapter 4

The rest of the ranger's day was pretty quiet. Nothing happened. No attacks, no threats, Ashley and Cassie didn't even have any gossip to share with each other. Most people would find it as a boring day, but the rangers enjoyed every second of it. They were loving the fact they weren't being hassled. However, each of them knew that this meant Astronema was up to something... something big. Meanwhile though, Cassie continuously plotted to get Ashley and Andros together, but Andros was so oblivious to everything, nothing happened.

TJ decided to be brave and try to actually have a conversation with Andros. He was a red ranger once, he could handle this.

"Hey Andros," Andros looked up,"I wanted to know... what's your planet like? KO-35?"

Andros was suddenly flooded with memories.

_"Father..." a teenage Andros asked._

_"Yes my son. What is it you wish to speak to me?" a much older and clean-cut man responded._

_"Wha... What would you do..... What would you say if I..... if I didn't.... well if I didn't pass the final exams." asked a very timid Andros._

_"You what!" _

_"I'm sorry father, it's no-"_

_SLAP!!!_

_"You failed! Well, i can't truly say it was a surprise. But nonetheless... what do you expect me to do? What is your mother going to say to our friends! She could lose her job! We would surely lose a ranking class! Do you have any idea of what you have just done??? You are no son of mine!"_

_Andros's father left him there crying for hours on end. It was the last time either one of them had seen each other._

 "Andros?" TJ said snapping Andros back into reality.

"What?" Andros replied dazed.

"I was asking, how KO-35 was."

"Oh yeah, KO-35.... I left there when I was just 18 years old. Just months before the invasion."

"What? Invasion? And why did you leave?"

Andros sighed,"That's a very long story."

"Well," TJ said gesturing around,"there's really nothing else to do."

Andros looked around. Well what harm could it do? "KO-35 is kind of like your planet," Andros started,"except for one thing: it's extremely ordered. There's no crimes or corruption, but at the same time, there's no individual thought; something I had a lot of trouble with. Now, the school system is a bit similar to your own. You do elementary school, middle school, high school, and college. But once you finish high school, only 100 students get to go to college. There's about 300 kids in each high school so naturally the smartest third gets to go to college. The others go to do apprenticeships in things such as building, engineering and plumbing."

"Wow, that is orderly... and harsh."

"Exactly," Andros replied," Now, the whole class structure revolves around the schooling system too. You have the smartest and wealthiest people on the top. In the upper-middle you have the families that made it to college but weren't so successful. On the lower middle you have the people who didn't make it to college and on the bottom you have the slaves. My family was on the top. We were rich and we had hundreds of slaves and everything. It disgusted me. I hated everything about it. I never even talked to my parents, I would free our slaves and let them run off with some of my parent's fortune, I was a downright rebel. And naturally, I was beat because of it."

TJ didn't flinch or anything, he just payed attention with a hard stare. Andros appreciated that TJ wasn't giving him the sympathy act and continued,"So, when it came to schooling, I knew I was just as smart as the people getting the top grades and I knew I would be top of the class by far if I would've kept my mouth shut. But of course I didn't. I would constantly get beat in class and I'd hear all my teachers saying 'you have so much potential' and all that crap. All the teachers hated me, while all the lower class students looked up to me, like a hero. In fact, a friend of mine, Zhane, always said that if I was going to get beat, he, himself, was going to get beat too. So every time I got beat, Zhane was right there getting beat with me. We stuck it out through all of high school but when final testing came, they failed both of us. I later found out that I got higher scores than anyone in my class and Zhane had gotten the 5th highest, but the teachers failed us anyways."

Andros sighed and looked down, "So when my dad found out I had failed.... he kicked me out of the family and that's when I knew I had to leave that shitty planet. I got some money from my dad and Zhane found this baby," Andros patted the table,"and we flew off."

TJ eased back in his chair, "So what about the invasion?"

"Oh yes," Andros continued,"Zhane and I had received information that Dark Spector had unleashed an attack on KO-35 and even though we had rangers stationed there, we stood no chance at Dark Spector's awesome power. Zhane and I flew back and tried to help the civilians out as best as we could, but we barely even got out of there alive. Dark Spector had annihilated all of KO-35 in a mere week."

TJ was amazed but he made sure he didn't sow it on his face.

"So there's your story," Andros said,"Any more questions?"

"Yeah, actually," TJ responded,"How'd you-"

"Hey Teej," Carlos interrupted, "You wanna spar with me on the Simu-Deck?"

"Yeah sure man, I'll be there," TJ called out, "Maybe some other time Andros, I gotta go kick Carlos's ass."

Andros actually smiled to that as TJ got up and walked away.

"Oh and Andros," TJ called turning back towards him,"thanks for the story, man"

"No problem," Andros said and he exited the room too.

Then, in the distance, Cassie and Ashley both poked their heads out from the other side of the counter. They had heard the whole conversation

"What the hell!" Ashley practically yelled,"Andros can't say two words to me, yet he can tell his whole freakin life story to TJ!?!"

"Chill Ash," Cassie explained,"It's a guy thing. Guy's can talk easier to guys then they can to us. It's just like how us girls have an easier time talking to each other than we do with guys."

"But...but I could be like one of the guys! If he would just give me a chance! That freakin bastard!"

"Jeez ash. I've never seen you act this crazy over a boy before."

"What are you talking about?" Ashley said loudly,"I always act this way! THIS...IS....NORMAL!"

"Whatever you say Ash, whatever you say." Cassie rolled her eyes

"Don't give me that! I'm perfectly normal."

Cassie rolled her eyes again," Why don't we just go get something to eat."

Cassie got up and left, but before Ashley left she thought to herself. _Wow, Andros really did have it hard huh? No wonder he's so emotionally detached form anyone. I mean, how can he trust anyone if he can't even trust his own parents?_

  **Hey guys, sorry I haven't posted in a while (forever). High school's been a rush and I... um... kinda forgot about you guys. But hey! I'll try to be faster with the posting and be more committed. Thanks guys! **

**-Alex**

 **Oh and p.s. I'm also making a time force fic. If any of you guys are interested, it's called Time,time, time. Thanks again!**


	5. Chapter 5

"WAKE UP!" Andros shouted,"Come on! Everyone out of their beads! We're under attack!"

It took less then 2 minutes to get everyone out of bed and already in their uniforms. Andros was impressed. Hell they even beat his former rangers's time! Well, if you counted Zhane that is.

"What's up Andros?" TJ asked with authority.

"We've been ambushed," Andros said as he tried to control the ship,"They've destroyed our engines, broken our shields, hell, they even knocked out DECA! It's almost as if they knew everything about this ship!"

"What do you want us to do?" Carlos asked.

"Just strap yourselves in and get ready for a rough landing."

Everyone immediately go in their chairs and held on for dear life, "Where are we landing Andros?"Cassie had to practically scream.

"A small planet in the Dabber system. On a planet called Tantalus V. I don't know much about the planet, but you can see from here, it's very green. That's a good sign, it means there's life."

The rangers nodded and prepared themselves for the landing. They had no clue what to expect so they just held on for dear life. The planet became increasing bigger by the second as they neared towards it. A reddish field started appearing before the sip as they were breaking the planet's atmosphere; they darted through the sky like a bullet! They saw huge trees towering below them as they started violently descending through branches and even whole trees! They tumbled and crashed along until the noise and motion stopped. Andros opened his eyes and tried to make out anything he could. The Astro Megaship was destroyed. It was crumpled inwards and completely contorted. There was no possible means to repair it . Andros unbuckled his seat-belt and turned around to look at his team. The platform on which the rangers had plotted destinations, and fired upon enemies was now toppled right on top of them! Andros gasped in horror and threw it off of the rangers. They were all were unconscious. Cassie, TJ, and Carlos were badly injured. Ashley looked like she had some minor injuries, but TJ had it the worst out of all of them. His skin was torn up and his right knee bone was popping out. Andros slowly picked him up and threw him onto his shoulders. He prayed to God that the medical rooms were still functional and that he could get him there without any trouble. It took a lot of trouble, not only were entries blocked off and floorboards missing, TJ was also really heavy. But he made it to the medical room and laid TJ down on one of the beds. He ran back as fast as he could and when he got there, he found that Ashley had just woken up.

"Ashley," Andros said seriously,"I'm gonna need you to carry Cassie to the med room. I'll carry Carlos and lead the way. Can you make it there with your injuries?"

Ashley got up and winced with a little pain but knew that she could make it there,"Yeah, I'm good." she said.

Andros looked at her hard, "Are you sure?"

"Yes," Ashley said, matching Andros's cold stare," I'm sure."

Andros nodded, picked up Carlos, and left, but slowly to make sure he wouldn't lose Ashley. He noticed that Ashley was struggling to go through, even-though she never showed it on her face. She fought through it for the sake of her friends and Andros had to admire that kind of dedication. They made it to the med room and quickly began treating their friends wounds. Andros started on TJ and Ashley started on Cassie. From the looks of things, Carlos looked like he had a broken arm but Cassie had a gash on her left thigh that looked like it would get infected quickly. Andros pointed Ashley to where the antibiotics and such were and she quickly got started. Andros then observed TJ's knee. He'd operated on worse through his lifetime as an outcast, but this was definitely somewhere in the top five. Andros wasn't a doctor, but on KO-35, repairing injuries was like a second language. Karovans could heal much worse wounds with no medical experience whatsoever. Legend has it that their planet was once a healing station and that all Karovans were born to be healers because of their unique healing abilities. Andros injected TJ with a small serum that had been invented on KO-35. It was almost like the anaesthesia they have on Earth but it was much more efficient. Afterwards, Andros reluctantly started applying pressure to TJ's knee and forced it back in. He wrapped it up and poured a golden liquid over it, a Karovan healing liquid. Nonetheless, it would still take at least a month for TJ to fully recover. Andros then handed the gel to Ashley and had her put some of it on Cassie's thigh. Then Andros treated Carlos and put his arm in a sling. Andros went to Ashley afterwards and started to pour some of the healing liquid on her cuts and bruises. Ashley watched amazed as her wounds closed up right before her eyes. Cassie started to wake.

"Wha... What happened?"

"It's okay Cass," Ashley said,"We've crashed and you guys were banged up pretty bad."

"Cassie, Ashley and I are going to explore this planet, you're in charge for now. I've left you guys food trays right by each one of your beds. Don't get out of your bed unless you absolutely have to. We can still keep in touch through our morphers, but if for some reason you can't reach us and we're not back in 3 hours, assume we're not coming back okay?"

Cassie looked worried but nodded her head,"Okay."

Then Andros and Ashley left the ship and were surrounded by acres of forest. There was barely even any light anymore because of the trees.

"Cassie,"Andros said through his morpher,"can you still here me?"

"Hear you loud and clear boss,"Cassie responded through his morpher

"Okay. Ashley and I are gonna start searching now, Andros out."

Andros then started to walk straight ahead into the wilderness while Ashley followed close behind. They had traveled at least a mile in complete silence, neither one dared to speak. Ashley was the first to break the tension.

"Hey Andros," Ashley asked,"How are we gonna get back to the ship?"

"I've got a homing device set into my morpher," Andros replied,"we should be fine."

Ashley nodded her head and then the silence started again.

"How are we going to get out of this place....... I mean, there's no way we could possibly repair our ship." Ashley said sadly.

"Don't worry Ashley, if worse comes to worse, we fly our galaxy gliders all the way to Tantalus Prime and find our way through there."

"How do you come up with this stuff?" Ashley suddenly asked,"Like even when everything seems so...bleak, you still keep going a...and you can still think straight and everything!"

Andros smiled a little,"Well, I have to, don't I? And there's always gonna be bad situations, I would know..."

Andros's smile disappeared as memories poured through his body. His parents yelling, his friends falling, and Natla. Sweet, sweet Natla....

"Hey Andros," Ashley touched his shoulder,"Are you okay?"

Andros looked back with an expressionless look on his face. He nodded his head, "Yeah, yeah. I'm fine."

Ashley smiled an encouraging smile,"Well, let's keep on going then, shall we?"

Andros smiled too. Ashley's smile was somehow...contagious, "Yeah, let's go."

*****************************************************************************************************************  

"Great work," Astronema smiled,"I should've picked up a bounty hunter like you years ago..."

"Cut the talk," the bounty hunter said," where's my money?"

"Of, course. Ecliptor! Get this fine man his money. You know," Astronema said turning back to the bounty hunter, "maybe you could help us permanently, you know... join the team."

"Sorry lady," the bounty hunter was harsh and concise," I have other jobs to do."

Astronema frowned,"So be it," Ecliptor came in and gave the bounty hunter his money, "there's your money, now leave!"

"With pleasure madame."

And the bounty hunter walked off

"Ecliptor,"

"Yes, Princess."

"Do make sure that we don't...lose this man's number."

"As you wish."

 ******************************************************************************************************************

"God, this place is weird! I'm just waiting for a wookie to pop out of nowhere and attack us!"

"A wookie?" Andros asked.

Ashley smiled, "Never mind."

"Hey Ashley," Andros said almost sounding bewildered," what does that look like to you. That, up ahead."

Ashley squinted to where Andros was pointing but all se could see were extremely vague shapes and blotches of color.

"I can't see anything at all. Wait. Can you actually see that far?"

Andros nodded his head,"It looks like a cave. That's either really good news or really bad news. Stay close."

Andros took slow steps forward and crouched down low. Something wasn't right. He paced forward every so slightly and made sure to open his ears for noises in the distance.

Suddenly, a cloaked figure swooped out of nowhere, but Andros got enough of a glimpse to roll sideways and dodge his attack. He got up and screamed, "Ashley look out! LET'S ROCKIT!"

A glow swarmed over Andros's body as he morphed into the red ranger. The attacker was already charging him as he had been morphing. The man slashed at Andros with his sword, but Andros jumped over the man and called on his spiral saber. Somehow the attacker expected this, caught Andros's leg, and threw him to the ground.

"BATTLE BLADE!" Ashley shouted as she, in her morphed form, jumped in the sky and attacked the cloaked man with her blade-like arm. But it was in vain as the attacker turned around and before Ashley could even strike, he had her by the throat.

"You rangers are a disappointment," the cloaked man said, "I've heard such great things about you, but here I am killing a single ranger with my bare hands!"

"Get away from her!" Andros shouted,"If you want a fight, fight me and leave her out of it"

"Very well," he said throwing Ashley to the ground. He slowly walked towards Andros spinning his sword until he came unto a halting stop. He charged at Andros with lightning quick speed and Andros only had enough time to pull his spiral saber up. The blades hit at an ear-piercing sound, but it was just what the attacker had expected and using his momentum, he swung a left hook right into Andros's chest. The blow made Andros fly meters back straight into a tree. The strength of the blow caused him to de-morph and his opponent smiled.

"Come, now. We do not need weapons or armor. Let us fight with honor."

Andros slowly regained his balance and nodded as he fluently moved his arms in a rhythm. He slowly lowered his arms so that one was level to his chest and his other was behind him arched in the air. He crouched his legs and stared daggers into his opponents eyes. His opponent smiled and placed his arms wide on either side of him and crooked his right foot forward. Andros attacked first and charged him with several hooks and blows to the head and chest. His opponent blocked them with ease, but struggled greatly to counterattack. Strikes were going back and forth, each one getting blocked by the other in a stalemate. The attacker swung his right foot up to Andros's head but Andros instead used his own head and head-butted the attacker straight in the chest. Andros then used that split second to jab him in the side with his left foot. The attacker used the momentum of the jab and spun clockwise in attack with his right heel swinging at Andros's stomach. Andros quickly improvised and switched his footing so his body was slightly diagonal and facing the up-coming blow. He grabbed the attacker's foot and was about to twist it and brake his ankle, but it was already turning before he made an effort to. This distracted Andros for a second too late as he realized the attacker's other foot swinging upwards right at him. There was a loud crash and crunch as both the attacker and Andros fell to the ground. The attacker, in much less pain than Andros, got up to the ground quicker than he. But Andros was smarter. While on the ground Andros swept his opponent's feet from under him and pounced on the man as he fell. They tumbled briefly and Andros was soon on top. Andros grabbed the man's cloak and pulled his head towards him while he, himself kept his hand balled in a fist above his head. But as he pulled the man's head up, his hood fell off.

"Roku?" Andros asked.

"Yes Andros," the old man smiled,"We have a lot of, as you would say, catching up to do."


	6. Chapter 6

**Hey guys, sorry for the lateness....again. Spring break gave me a little time to get away from my busy schedule and write again. And I also apologize in advance for the constant skipping in this story, I tried to make it seem suspenseful by skipping from scene to scene. Anyway, I hope you guys enjoy it**  

"Shhh. It'll be okay Teej," Cassie said as she dabbed TJ's forehead with a moist towel. TJ had just woken up and had been moaning in agony. TJ was tough, but he wasn't that tough. The Karovan healing substances worked fast, but they hurt like hell. TJ's grip on cassie's hand was getting tighter by the second.

"Don't worry Teej, it'll be alright." TJ looked at cassie with a pained look, but the moment he looked into her eyes he felt more relaxed and safe.

"Thanks Cass," TJ mumbled affectionately. Cassie smiled at him.

"Just get some rest," Cassie said as she motherly kissed him on the forehead," you'll need it."

It didn't take long before TJ fell asleep, but Cassie stayed by his bed, still holding his hand.

"Jeez," Carlos broke the silence,"I'm still right here you know!"

Cassie laughed as Carlos stuck his finger in his mouth and pretended he was throwing up. "Here," she said," why don't I get you some food."

"Finally!" Carlos exclaimed,"I finally get some attention!"

Cassie snorted as she carefully walked to the med room and tried to find a way to the synthetron.

 ****************************************************************************************************************************************

Ashley didn't know what in the world was going on. First the ship gets shot down and they end up on a bizarre planet. Then Cassie, TJ, and Carlos get severely injured and the megaship gets trashed beyond reason! And even after that, Andros and she get attacked again, but apparently Andros knows this crazy guy. And now, their following the old man to lord knows where and Ashley has the slightest feeling that their gonna be someone's dinner! Call it intuition; call it freaking logical! What the hell is Andros doing? This man just attacked us!

"Roku," Andros said," Where are you taking us?"

Ashley snorted _Now he asks questions!_

"My house shouldn't be much further. I will fix us all a nice dinner and we can talk."

"That's very nice of you," Ashley cut in biting her lip,"but we have friends back the other way so-"

"It's okay Ashley," Andros cut in,"we won't stay too long."

Ashley reluctantly nodded her head and kept walking. _The food had better be good..._

 ****************************************************************************************************************************************

Cassie slowly tried to make her way over to the synthetron. The internal damage of the ship was devastating. The realization was slowly starting to hit her. The ship was gone now. There was no way it would ever be able to fly again, which also meant, they were stuck here. Maybe even forever. She wouldn't get the chance to see her parents or her friends on Earth. She shook thought off. No, Andros would find a way through this. She knew he would. But, just how long would it take him...

Her mind drifted off until she heard a faint sound. A very, very faint noise that sounded like metal hitting metal. She turned towards the noise. _What could that be?_

 ****************************************************************************************************************************************

 Roku opened the door for Andros and Ashley. He lived in a small, wooden house that looked like he had built himself. He smiled and led them to a small table that had three chairs surrounding it. Two on one side, one on the other. Ashley's skin started to crawl.

"Please, have a seat." Roku said as he sat in the single chair and gestured to the other two. Andros started walking, but Ashley grabbed his hand. Andros looked back at her with a curious look.

"Andros," Ashley whispered,"I have a really bad feeling about this."

Andros was ready to roll his eyes until he saw the concern on her face. She looked pale. Andros thought about the situation, but Ashley didn't know Roku. Sure it seemed weird, but everything about Roku is weird.

"It's okay Ashley," Andros found himself saying,"we can trust this guy."

Ashley looked like she was going to throw up, but she picked her head up and walked slowly towards the seat. They both sat down and looked at Roku.

"Good," Roku smiled. But as he did, there was a loud noise and metal cuffs appeared from the chairs arms and legs, trapping both Andros and Ashley to their chairs by their wrists and ankles.

"Now, about dinner..."

 ****************************************************************************************************************************************

Cassie looked at the wall in front of her. The sound had changed from a metallic sound, to a mixture of that and some sort of buzzing noise. She looked closer and realized that there was a massive dent in the wall. There had been several dents around the whole ship, but this one was very circular and it looked like there was something behind it. Almost like a big bruise. She then realized that this was the wall she was looking at was connected to the engines. The same engines that were hit by the blast that crashed them on this planet. Well, at least that would explain the dent, but why was this "dent"......_buzzing_?

 ****************************************************************************************************************************************

"What the hell's going on here!" Andros response he got was a dark familiar laugh. And although it was coming from Roku's mouth it didn't sound anything like Roku. It still sounded familiar. Andros looked at Ashley who looked twice as frightened as she did a few seconds ago.

"Silly red ranger," Roku said as he leaned over until he was face-to-face with Andros, "you're just as gullible as ever!"

Realization suddenly struck Andros, "What have you done to Roku!"

Roku, or what appeared to be Roku, laughed again, "But you have gotten smarter!"

"Where is he!" Andros yelled. Then, right in front of his eyes, Roku started to change. Andros gasped when he found himself staring into the blacks of Darkonda's eyes.

"I wouldn't be too worried about Roku if I were you," Darkonda chuckled, "I would be more worried about your friends..."

  ****************************************************************************************************************************************

Cassie screamed as the wall erupted open and a swarm of metallic looking bugs flew out eating the walls of the megaship. She ran out screaming for her life, it was only moments before the bugs would reach the power core of the engines...

 ****************************************************************************************************************************************

"How long have these silly little rangers been in your hands red ranger..." Darkonda drawled, "Apparently long enough to be have their lives taken away from them!"

Andros started swearing at Darkonda, threatening him to let him go. But Darkonda just laughed.

"It is unfortunate," Darkonda continued,"I thought I was going to enjoy killing these rangers, but they were hardly a challenge. Not like the old ones. You should have seen them begging for mercy. Especially..." Darkonda turned his head towards Ashley "the yellow ranger..."

Darkonda walked toward Ashley with an evil smile, but Ashley just looked him straight back in the face. While Darkonda had been threatening Andros, Ashley had been slowly pushing the top of her right boot to the cuff on her ankle in an effort to take her boot off. Her plan was working and she was just about to slip her foot through the cuff, but Darkonda had already started walking towards her.

"Don't touch her!" Andros yelled. Darkonda just smiled and leaned over Ashley until he was face to face with her.

"How ironic...It seems the red ranger has once again touched the heart of a foolish yellow ranger. Silly child don't you realize everything the red ranger touches withers and dies? Ha-ha! Soon you will be begging for mercy just as the previous yellow ranger."

Ashley wriggled her foot through the cuff and sent her knee straight into Darkonda's groin. Darkonda stumbled back, but Ashley gave him no tim to recover. She quickly planted her foot back onto the ground, spun on the heel of her foot and drove her chair right into him. The chair completely broke off and she looked Darkonda straight in the eyes, "I don't beg bitch! LET'S ROCKET!"

Bright light exploded in a yellow haze and disappeared in a split second. Ashley stepped toward Andros in morphed form and blasted the cuffs off of him. Andros then quickly morphed and joined Ashley, but Darkonda had already vanished.

"Dammit!" Ashley yelled,"We almost had him!"

Andros sighed, "C'mon, let's get to the other rangers before it's too late."

 ****************************************************************************************************************************************

"Cassie, just leave without me, you and a wounded Carlos can't carry me out! We don't have enough time!" TJ yelled.

"We're not leaving without you!" Carlos persisted. Cassie Carlos and TJ were stuck in the med room and the closest way out was through the chutes which was a good half-a-mile away.

"Carlos we're wasting time! If what Cass said is true, then we've got about a good 5 minutes until this place blows!"

"TJ," Cassie said, "If one of us goes down, we all do! We're a team!"

But just then Carlos heard something from the corner of his ear and turned with his blaster in his hand. A silhouetted figure stood by the doorway and slowly walked towards them.

"Sounds like you guys need a hand..."

 ****************************************************************************************************************************************

Andros and Ashley raced back towards the megaship hoping that they could reach their friends.

"Galaxy glider! Hang ten!" Andros yelled. seconds later the red galaxy glider came and Andros jumped on. He stuck his arm out toward Ashley," Hop on. I don't know how much time we have before the rangers get hit by Darkonda's plan."

Ashley grabbed his arm and got on. Andros tried pushing the glider as fast as it could go.

"There!" Ashley yelled, "I think I can see it!"

Andros saw it too and tried to push the glider even faster. The megaship was just in full view when suddenly it erupted in a huge explosion. The blast radius knocked them down, but they got up and started running towards the ship, praying the rangers made it. Andros didn't know what he'd do with himself if they didn't.

They made it to the ship and started calling their names. They didn't hear a response. They spent hours scavenging the remains of the ship, but they found nothing. The explosion was so big that thereweren't even many remains to search through. Ashley had tried several times to contact them through their morphers but it was no use. Darkonda had probably jammed their connection. Ashley felt her knees grow weak as she realized they were really gone. She demorphed and fell on the floor crying for her friends. Andros demorphed too and looked down at Ashley. But as he looked at her pained face, a new emotion started welling up inside of him. Hate. He started blaming himself. It was all his fault. He should've trusted Ashley. He should've been smarter. He should've been stronger. Worse, he shouldn't have taken out those morphers to begin with. He shouldn't have gotten too close; put their lives on the line. Didn't he learn his lesson the first time? Was he really so cruel as to let more people die for his cause?

Andros found the nearest tree and started punching it. Punching it repeatedly as his knuckles started bleeding. Punching it up until the point when he started crying. He sat down against the tree and cried silently.

"It's all my fault..." he whispered. Ashley walked up to him and ripped a piece of cloth form the bottom of her shirt. She still had tears in her eyes as she kneeled down and took Andros's hands. She tied the cloth around his bloody knuckles and wiped the tears from his face.

"It's not you fault," she said, "they knew the risks of being a ranger. They knew they were risking their lives, so don't go telling me that it's all your fault. "

Andros opened his mouth but Ashley cut him off, "Listen to me Andros. Darkonda and Astronema are still out there and the way I see it, we're the only ones that can stop them. So I need you to toughen up and be the red ranger you were born to be because i sure as hell won't take the other rangers death in vain!"

Andros looked up into her eyes, "Why are you still here?"

Ashley looked back and could almost feel the pain inside Andros. She sighed, "I'm here because I know the risks. I know the costs. And I know that I will not stop until I have taken my last breath, " she squeezed his hand, "and I know that you'll fight with me every step of the way."

Andros nodded and looked away from her, "It's getting dark. We should find somewhere to sleep. I'm sure Darkonda's minions will be here any second."

Ashley nodded and stood up.

"Lead the way."

Andros and Ashley eventually found a small cave with a soft floor. They had decided on taking turns sleeping and standing watch, but neither of them could sleep. So instead they made a small fire and sat side by side behind it so they could look out into the distant night. Andros noticed Ashley starting to shiver due to her half torn shirt. He tried sitting closer to her and tentatively put his arm around her. Ashley giggled at how inexperienced Andros seemed to be around girls. But at the same time she felt very comfortable and safe in his arms and wound up resting her head on his chest. They sat there for a long time there. Not speaking and only moving once or twice to keep the fire going. Ashley was the first to break the silence.

"Hey Andros," Ashley asked.

"Yes?"

Ashley moved her head so she could look him straight in the face, "Do you miss her?"

Andros sighed, "All the time."

"Tell me about her." Ashley said as she leaned her head back into Andros's chest.

"She was beautiful," Andros started, "She had short, brown hair and very thoughtful eyes. She always had a habit of getting into trouble. She looked harmless, but get on her bad side and you were in deep shit. We actually had a rule on the ship: He who gets their ass kicked by Natla, probably deserves it. We had grown up together throughout elementary school and after I left KO-35, well, she somehow came back into my life. We got together a little while after we became rangers and it just sort of lifted off after that. We were gonna get married after the war...."

Andros drifted off from there and just stared at the ground. Ashley was amazed at how much pain he had gone through. TJ had already told her of Andros's childhood, or at least, what Andros had told him about his childhood. There was so much stuff about Andros that she doesn't even know. Probably even more pain. She looked into his eyes again.

"Do you still love her?" Ashley asked. Not pushy nor tentatively, but with sincerity.

Andros opened his mouth once or twice, but kept staring at the ground thinking. He opened his mouth one more time and started speaking, but suddenly a silver light burst through the forest and headed towards them. Andros stood up and stepped in front of Ashley. He tried to look up, but the light was too blinding. He decided then to listen, and as he listened closer, he faintly heard the humming of an engine. The noise grew louder and louder until he realized it was almost at their cave. The engine stopped and the light turned off. It was too dark to see anything, but he could vaguely make out that someone or something was coming towards them. Andros held out his blaster and threatened whatever it was to show itself. One figure stepped into the light of the campfire and smiled at them.

"This is my welcoming party?"

Andros was at a loss for words, but Ashley shrieked and ran towards Carlos. Soon after, TJ and Cassie came out supporting each other because of TJ's leg. Andros dropped his gun and sighed with a huge amount of relief as Ashley ran towards them and bear-hugged each of them.

"But I don't understand," Ashley said between hugs, "how did you guys get out in time?"

"Well," TJ said with a smile, " we had a little help."

Andros didn't notice it before, but there was one more figure standing in the darkness and it slowly walked towards the group. It crossed between Carlos and TJ and stepped into the full light of the fire. Andros fainted.


End file.
